Statement from McDonald's on gay-inclusive ad O'Reilly mocked

Media Matters contacted McDonald's Corporation today for a response to Fox News' Bill O'Reilly asking last night, "Do they have an al-Qaeda ad?" during an O'Reilly Factor discussion of a gay-inclusive French McDonald's ad.

After an initial inquiry went unanswered, Media Matters sent the following message to several corporate media relations staffers at McDonald's Corporation:

FYI - Several major LGBT organizations have now provided me with comment condemning O'Reilly, even something less aggressive from McDonald's generically standing up for its LGBT customers and employees without mentioning O'Reilly by name would be appreciated.

The ad you're referencing is one of a series of ads called "Come as You Are" which recognizes the diversity of McDonald's customers in France. This particular commercial was produced by McDonald's France and is running only in France.

Each of our 117 markets around the world determines their own path on advertising and marketing, which is nothing new at McDonald's. Advertising has always varied around the world.

--McDonald's Corporation

As noted above, in an exclusive Media Mattersreport this afternoon, several LGBT advocacy groups ripped O'Reilly for "equating gays" with "terrorists."